In between All Souls, All Saints and Remembrance Sunday we are witness to COP 27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, beginning on the Sunday 6th November. This is an international meeting which the UK has chaired. We are handing the Chair to Egypt and for various reasons our Prime Minister has indicated he will not attend it. King Charles has been advised not to attend. This hymn, written in 2019 and used last year in Durham Cathedral emphasises our responsibility to be stewards of the creation (Psalm 8: 6-8). 1 The care of our planet, the threat of extinction, alerts us to need to be stewards of the earth: this place of great beauty, our God given tenure, the place of our nurture, the globe of our birth. 2 This place we must guard for each new generation, to leave as we found it or, better, restored; to share each resource without greed or pretension, not barring the needy, not plunder, nor hoard. 3 The banquet of God is for all of God's people, communion companions are both rich and poor, our ultimate end will remove all distinctions, no birth right or creed can obstruct heaven's door. 4 God's commonwealth love can encompass all nations, but here in this place we must all make a start: a life of acceptance of sister and brother, the practice of loving, a God given art. Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2019 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://www.stainer.co.uk. Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd. Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO; ST CATHERINE'S COURT Used at Durham Cathedral on Climate Sunday, 17th October 2021.
Category: worship
All Saints – All Souls – Remembrance
The 1st of November is All Saints Day; the 3rd All Souls Day. As we enter this period, culminating for many on the 11th November with Remembrance Day, and the 13th Remembrance Sunday, this hymn might be helpful for we who mourn, who remember those who have died.
Some churches will recognise All Souls this coming Sunday. This hymn was originally requested for remembrance of people who had died of kidney disease and later included in a book: Hymns of Hope and Healing.
The lives we mourn have known their share of heartache,
of human fear, uncertainty and shock,
and yet we also shared in love and laughter,
our memories hold solid as a rock;
for on through time remembrance will be treasured,
we'll keep it close when joy is tinged with pain,
we'll never lose the smiles that sign togetherness,
and day to day we know that love will still remain.
We never know what waits in life's uncertainty,
we never know what love, what joy, what fear,
can build us up, or leave us lost and comfortless,
afraid to face, again, the coming year,
yet here are people who can hold their hands with us,
can walk with us into the great unknown,
and so together we can walk the path of life,
and know that when we stumble love will still be shown.
So take my hand, my friend, my neighbour, walk with me,
together we can face the passing storm,
and know with God, in spite of tears and emptiness,
there is a sense that new love can be born.
In this we trust, for through our grief God held to us,
and human arms have caught us when we fell,
beyond this day each dawn will bring new hope for us
that through God's love and grace and care all will be well.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2015 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk .
Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd
Metre: 12 10 12 1012 10 12 12
Tune LONDONNERY AIR
Hymn at a time when people feel excluded – God, save us from the platitudes
God values all – Joel 2: 28 – 29 – hymn at a time when people feel excluded. The prophet Joel said: 28 Then afterwards I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.
1 God, save us from the platitudes,
the empty prayers and hollow praise
that blind us to hypocrisy
of every thoughtless word or phrase.
O take us, mend us, make us one
until your work on earth is done.
2 When pride and selfishness demand
our rights when others suffer hurt,
when greed and use of wealth exploit
and push our neighbours in the dirt
yes, take us, mend us, make us one
until your work on earth is done.
3 Within a world of fear-built walls
of colour, social class or creed,
God, help us look with Christ-lit eyes
for Christ within another's need;
O, take us, mend us, make us one
until your work on earth is done.
4 O God of fundamental grace
in which your church has grown and stands,
great God of self-denying love
may hatred die in every land.
Yes, take us, mend us, make us one
until your peace on earth is won.
5 Then graceful hospitality
may welcome angels unaware,
until your all inclusive love
spans through all time, is everywhere,
for by your grace we now are one,
your hope is gained, your work is done.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2011 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd
Metre: 8 8 8 8 8 8
Tune: ABINGDON
Out beyond our understanding – a hymn inspired by Graham Adams’ book – Holy Anarchy
Rev Dr Graham Adams, of the Luther King Centre, has written a book entitled Holy Anarchy. Graham summarises the book here. The heart of Jesus’ vision is a reality he called the kingdom of God - 'a realm in which all dynamics of domination, not least in the church, are subverted'. So this is Holy Anarchy of which Adams writes and in this hymn/poem I have been inspired by this vision. Out beyond our understanding Out beyond our understanding, holy ‘truths’ that have us bound, Holy Anarchy is waiting: shakes, disturbing what we’ve found. Strands beyond our human measure test what’s certain, where we stand, draw us out beyond our treasure to an unknown holy land. Far from what we thought was certain, bound by darkness, hid by light, dare we risk this strange adventure, dream-like drifting, endless flight? Might we yet glimpse sense and purpose, seeming distant, yet so near, here within our present context, such a love as casts out fear? More than we at first envisaged, broader than our widest scope, challenging our firm conceptions, thoughts on which we’ve placed our hope: this will strain imagination, take us from our comfort zone, seem like some incarnate chaos, nothing like we’ve ever known. Andrew Pratt Words © 2022 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://www.stainer.co.uk. Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd. Tune: DIM ON IESU (a Welsh tune to reflect Graham's background) Words inspired by Holy Anarchy, SCM, Graham Adams (2022).
Wrestling with God – Genesis 32: 22-31 – a hymn
Genesis 32: 22-31 Tells the story of an enigmatic stranger wresting with Jacob by a brook called The Jabbok. It is a story of crisis and decision, of Jacob a meeting with God, finding his vocation. Charles Wesley told the story in the hymn ‘Come, O thou traveller unknown’. It runs to 12 verses! You may not have sung it in its entirety.
This hymn is somewhat shorter…
1 Wrestling stranger met with Jacob,
struggled onward till the morn,
struggled by the brook of Jabbok,
heralding a different dawn.
2 Jacob met the task with courage,
and it seemed he would prevail,
but the stronger, wrestling stranger,
made him limp, God could not fail.
3 What the struggle? Why the wrestling?
Was it real or human doubt?
Jacob gained self realization,
how he’d work his purpose out.
4 Nameless God now blessing Jacob,
Israel went on from that place,
Holy ground, for this was special,
here he’d met God face to face.
Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2011 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd
Metre: 8 7 8 7. Tune: ALL FOR JESUS
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